Park Rangers

Four years ago, we said goodbye to our son, David, at O'Hare International Airport, where he left for what was supposed to be a six-day vacation in Costa Rica. We had no idea we might never see him again. Four days later, we found ourselves going through the same customs line our son encountered at the steamy Liberia Costa Rica Airport. The night before, we had received a call from the manager of the hotel where our son was staying, informing us that David, then a 28-year-old graduate student at the Adler School of...

Tim Schuett had been asleep fewer than three hours in Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado Sunday morning when a white-hot pain across his forehead jolted him awake. He peeked outside his tent to see a black bear lumber away, sniff around the cooking area of the campsite, and disappear into the woods. Schuett, a Glen Ellyn camping enthusiast, and friend Patrick Finan, 22, of Boulder, Colo., had just survived the second black bear attack at the park in 32 years. "My first thought...

LONDON (Reuters) - Newcastle United have released long-serving striker Shola Ameobi, the Premier League club said on Friday. The 32-year-old made his Newcastle debut in 2000 and made 397 appearances, scoring 79 goals including one in a Champions League match at Barcelona's Nou Camp stadium in 2002. "Shola Ameobi has been an incredible servant to Newcastle United," manager Alan Pardew told the club website. "Such loyalty and commitment in the modern game is rare and Shola was...

Scientists said Tuesday that global warming likely is to blame for the disappearance of a glacial lake in remote southern Chile that faded away in two months, leaving just a crater behind. The disappearance of the lake in Bernardo O'Higgins National Park was discovered in late May by park rangers, who were stunned to find a 130-foot deep crater in its place. After flying over the lake Monday, scientists said they were able to draw initial conclusions that point to climate change as the...

CODY, Wyoming (Reuters) - A mountain climber in Grand Teton National Park in northwest Wyoming fell 1,000 feet to his death while descending from a summit, officials said on Monday. Justin Harold Beldin, 27, and two climbing partners had reached the summit of the 12,804-foot Middle Teton and were beginning to descend at about noon on Sunday when the accident occurred, said officials with the National Park Service. Another group of climbers saw Beldin fall and...

(Reuters) - Queens Park Rangers are in pole position to reach the English Championship (second tier) playoff showdown at Wembley after drawing 0-0 at Wigan Athletic in Friday's semi-final first leg. Goal chances were at a premium in an encounter between two teams that were relegated from the Premier League last season, although Wigan did win the FA Cup. Harry Redknapp's Rangers will now fancy their chances of knocking out Wigan when Uwe Rosler's...

For a while, park rangers at Starved Rock State Park considered building their new $1 million visitors center on a barge in the Illinois River. The problem was, everywhere they dug to put the new building on land, they came up with a lot more than dirt. Pottery, for instance, from prehistoric Indian times. Brass ornaments from the French occupation in the 1700s. Chunks of Civilian Conservation Corps shelters from the 1930s. "Right here, they dug two pits and...

GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - The director of Democratic Republic of Congo's Virunga Park - Africa's oldest national park - survived an attack by unidentified gunmen while driving through the country's volatile eastern borderlands on Tuesday, a colleague said. Emmanuel de Merode, one of Africa's leading conservationists, was shot four times on the road linking the park's headquarters in Rumangabo to Goma, the capital of North Kivu province. "He...

LONDON, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Israel midfielder Yossi Benayoun has signed a short-term contract with English Championship club Queen's Park Rangers. The promotion-chasing London club confirmed on Tuesday that the former West Ham United, Liverpool and Chelsea player, who had been on trial, had joined the second tier side until the end of the season. "Yossi is a good footballer, a top-class player," QPR manager Harry Redknapp said. "He's got great ability and is someone I...

SEOUL, Jan 22 (Reuters) - A shock return to the South Korean national team looks unlikely for Park Ji-sung as the former Manchester United player has arranged a charity game in Southeast Asia shortly before the World Cup finals, his father told local media on Wednesday. Speculation that Park could play a part in Korea's campaign in Brazil grew after head coach Hong Myung-bo said earlier this month he wanted to talk to him about a possible return. However, the player's...

(Reuters) - Queens Park Rangers are in pole position to reach the English Championship (second tier) playoff showdown at Wembley after drawing 0-0 at Wigan Athletic in Friday's semi-final first leg. Goal chances were at a premium in an encounter between two teams that were relegated from the Premier League last season, although Wigan did win the FA Cup. Harry Redknapp's Rangers will now fancy their chances of knocking out Wigan when Uwe Rosler's...

LONDON, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Israel midfielder Yossi Benayoun has signed a short-term contract with English Championship club Queen's Park Rangers. The promotion-chasing London club confirmed on Tuesday that the former West Ham United, Liverpool and Chelsea player, who had been on trial, had joined the second tier side until the end of the season. "Yossi is a good footballer, a top-class player," QPR manager Harry Redknapp said. "He's got great ability and is someone I...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear the appeal of an anti-abortion protester who claimed his free speech rights were violated when park rangers removed him from a sidewalk near the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia. Without comment, the court said it would not take up the case of Michael Marcavage, who was arrested in October 2007 when he used a bullhorn to lead a protest at the entrance to the Liberty Bell Center at Independence...

SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) - The first child to die from gunfire in Yellowstone National Park in three-quarters of a century was a 3-year-old girl killed over the weekend by a bullet shot from her father's handgun at a popular lakeside campsite, park officials said on Sunday. Little information was released by authorities about the toddler's death since her mother called emergency dispatchers on Saturday to report that her daughter had shot herself at the Grant...

BULL'S-EYE: The Pentagon said Monday it has a "high degree of confidence" that the missile fired at a dead U.S. spy satellite in space destroyed its fuel tank. The tank had 1,000 pounds of hydrazine, a toxic substance. COMPENSATION: Iran must pay more than $33 million to the family of a U.S.-born Israeli diplomat killed in a 1992 terrorist attack, a federal judge in Washington said Monday. Iran has refused to acknowledge the lawsuits. GUN RULES: Park rangers, retirees and conservation groups are protesting a...

Sept 7 (Reuters) - A 40-year-old man visiting Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming died in a fall of nearly 100 feet (30 metres) down a cliff, in the area of a backcountry camp where he had planned to spend the night, park officials said in a statement on Saturday. Edward Tom, who was from Boulder, Colorado, and a partner on his expedition were at the Petzoldt Caves when Tom went over the edge of the cliff on Friday evening, the National Park Service ...

Dear Tom, On our vacation trip this summer, we toured through Shenandoah and Great Smoky Mountain National Parks. It was very hazy in both parks when we were there, and rangers said the haze was not natural but that it was air pollution. Were they correct? The McNeeley Family Springfield, Ill. Dear McNeeley Family, The park rangers were on the right track. Sunlight interacting with huge amounts of moisture and tiny particles released over...